Val Ackerman, Former WNBA Head, Chosen Big East Commissioner

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Val Ackerman was hired as
commissioner of the Big East conference, adding to a basketball-heavy resume that includes being the first president of the
Women’s National Basketball Association.

The 53-year-old Ackerman was chosen by the presidents of
the conference’s 10 universities.

“We believe we’ve selected the consummate 21st century
basketball executive for the consummate 21st century basketball
conference,” Georgetown University President John DeGioia said
during a conference call with reporters.

Ackerman said she would begin next week. The New York City-based Big East is set to begin business in its new form on July
1. The conference, she said, is seeking to build its staff and
find office space in Midtown Manhattan.

“The office, right now, is me and my iPhone,” said
Ackerman, adding that she plans to visit the conference’s
universities as soon as possible.

“The values the Big East was founded on, and became known
for -- basketball excellence, academic integrity -- we plan on
building on that heritage,” she said. “While all the sports
are important, this will be a basketball-centric organization.”

Other female conference commissioners include Bernadette
McGlade of the Atlantic 10 and Robin Harris, executive director
of the Ivy League.

The Big East is comprised largely of Catholic colleges and
universities from the old Big East, which is now called the
American Athletic Conference.

Holdover Schools

The league, which retained the rights to the Big East name,
includes the so-called Catholic 7, whose presidents voted to
leave because they said football-related revenue was becoming
too important. The Big East started in 1979 with a focus on
basketball.

The holdover schools are Georgetown, St. John’s, Villanova,
Seton Hall, Providence, Marquette and DePaul. They will be
joined by Butler, Creighton and Xavier.

“There are some important conversations going on about the
proper balance between athletics and academics, the role of
commercialism,” Ackerman said, mentioning the lawsuit filed
against the National Collegiate Athletic Association by former
UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon. “There’s a lot going on in
college sports.”

Ackerman’s Background

O’Bannon and others are challenging the right of college
sports’ governing body, conferences and schools to keep proceeds
from selling the rights to athletes’ likenesses in TV
broadcasts, video games and on apparel. The plaintiffs say a
victory could reduce the $6.4 billion in annual revenue
universities earn from athletics by as much as 50 percent.

Ackerman ran the WNBA from 1996 to 2005, when she stepped
down. She was a staff attorney for the NBA, and served as the
first female president of USA Basketball from 2005 to 2008.
She’s a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame board of trustees.
She said the conference would explore international
opportunities without being specific.

NBA Commissioner David Stern, who appointed Ackerman to
start the women’s league, praised her choice as conference
chief.

“She brings all of that experience with intelligence, a
keen analytical ability, an intense work ethic and a winning
management style,” Stern said in an e-mail.

A four-year basketball player at the University of Virginia
prior to getting her law degree at UCLA, Ackerman released a
report this month commissioned by the NCAA on the state of
women’s basketball and possible changes the sport could make to
improve popularity and efficiency.

Female Roster

Linda Bruno was the first female commissioner of a major
college conference, serving as head of the Atlantic 10 from 1994
to 2008, and was replaced by McGlade. Carolyn Schlie Femovich
has been commissioner of the Patriot League since 1999 and
Brenda Weare led the Northeast Conference from 2006 until her
death in 2009. In 2011, Amy Huchthausen was chosen commissioner
of the America East, and Harris has led the Ivy League since
2009.

“It’ll be great to have another female join the
commissioner ranks, but first and foremost, her extensive
leadership experience and accomplishments give her a perspective
that will position the Big East for continued success,”
Huchthausen, a former Big East intern, said in an e-mail.

The Big East signed a 12-year television contract this year
with Fox Sports, a unit of News Corp. The league has agreed to
play its season-ending men’s basketball tournament at Madison
Square Garden in New York for the next three years.

Ackerman said former Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe, who had
been serving as a consultant, has agreed to remain with the
conference in the near term. In addition, Joseph D’Antonio, a
compliance and governance executive with the old Big East, has
agreed to join the new Big East, she said.